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Reducing the Retail Price of College Tuition

Most people don’t realize that there are ways to reduce the amount of money you have to pay for college tuition. No I don’t mean scholarships and grants exclusively. I’m talking about a lot more than that. Let’s discuss.

Colleges and universities have criteria set aside for some of the most dedicated students. If you can prove to them a few things then theses institutions will often times reward students by discounting the price of their tuition. Unfortunately, when i went to college I was unaware that schools would actually lower their tuition for the right students.

Here’s the three criteria for which they base their decisions upon

Academic performance

Community Service

Financial Considerations

Before you jump to conclusions and disqualify yourself on one of your preconceived premises above, please keep reading. You may be missing out on tens of thousands of savings on tuition.

Let’s address number one. Academic performance is important. Consistent work in the classroom and decent test scores are obviously factors. You can’t be lazy and you do have to be diligent in getting good grades. Schools aren’t going to take students who don’t take their academics seriously. But you don’t have to be a brainchild to qualify here.

Community service is very important to a college or university considering tuition discounts for applicants. A school s looking for a student who is active in the community and who performs civic duties.

They want a student who is known for giving back. Why? Because they’re counting on you giving back after you graduate. Often times schools (especially private ones) have very large endowments.

Schools with lots of money in their bank accounts can afford a little break on tuition here and there. Do you think a school with a BILLION dollar endowment really cares about a twenty thousand dollar a year discount to a few students a year?

HECK NO!! Why? Because they know it’s an investment in their future. They know that at some point in the future you are going to donate BACK to them. Do you think Vanderbilt University has any trouble recouping their money on a yearly basis? They are getting donations left and right and they expect for you to do the same once you’re out in the work force.

The final aspect would be family financial situation. I’ll talk more about this one in a future post but for now let’s just say that your family brings home less than $300,000 a year.

Schools have figure or a factor they call the EFC. The Expected Family Contribution. The more your family makes and the more assets they have accrued, the more they will be expected to contribute to your college education.

To make a long story short, simply by repositioning your family’s assets you can lower your EFC. A lower EFC leads to a higher tuition reward from the school. Sounds complicated right? Well, it’s not really that complex.

Some financial advisors can help you sift through the loopholes and better yourself for a bigger discounted tuition price. I think you’ll be amazed when we delve into some case studies.